[Rob Philips]

Thanks, Tony. 3 and 4 point harmonisation added to the list too.

Assume an engagement range of 200 meters. Small caliber projectiles, Vo say 850 m/s, V200 say 650 m/s, Vaverage over that trajectory say 700 m/s, would take 200/700 = 0,29 second only to reach the target. Forgetting about a quantification of the violent evasive action capabilities of the target, and same for the attacker to follow that evasive action, and forgetting about a pattern fired so far forward that the pilot in the target had a reaction time in the >0,5 second area, then would your idea still hold? It would interest me to hear about this from those who have been up there. The point is, or could be, that small caliber rounds flying at such velocities cannot be seen. Neither by the attacker, nor by the pilot in the target aircraft. The flying noise would be such that they could not hear the projectiles in flight either. From my own experiments it follows that a small caliber projectile, meaning <10mm, can be seen, if you are focussed and if lighting conditions are good, only at speeds well below 200 m/s. Poor sample count in this experiment; I assume my eyes to be as sharp and as fast as the eyes of the average guy. This might be a bit different if there is a dense pattern flying around, I don't know. It seems that there is a clear benefit in this type of extremely fast four dimensional shooting, if you can see where the pattern is going. The fighter pilot is there to control the aircraft which is there to carry & aim the guns. It seems that a tracer path offers a more intuitive picture than any gun sight could do, in the days of unguided ammunitions.

Regards,

Rob